Baby blues

[GarterGuy]

Hello all,
Well my baby T.s.pickeringii that I got are really testing me. After having to put down the largest one due to some sort of nuerological problems.....now I'm having issues getting the others to eat. Actually it's just the one.....the other one is in shed...which is good! The other, and smallest....really wants to eat, but really seems to have no idea what it's doing???? I put guppies in a bowl and it chases them around LOTS, but can't catch them. So I tried just putting them on the bottom and it went right over to them and bit them, but then seemed to have NO IDEA what to do next. It just kind of wiggled it's head around until the fish came out. The only one that it's eaten was soooo small that when it bit it, it totally fit inside it's mouth and just ended up having it almost fall down it's throat. Even then, it seemed not to know how to swallow and it took several minutes for it to completely swallow the tiny fish (it was actually only half the size of it's head!). I'm not sure what to do, it seems really hungry and keeps going after the live ones in the water and biting the ones I put out for it, but nothing gets eaten. Anyone else ever have this problem or have some handy advice to help?????

Thanx......Roy

[Cazador]

Hi Roy,
I had the same problem with two of the blue pickeringii that I ordered. One turned out to have a case of mouth rot (somatitis). Look very closely at the gum line, and see if it looks swolen or if the mouth doesn't close properly. If the gums are swollen too much, the teeth won't be able to grip the food properly, and food can slip out of its mouth. If the gums are swolen, separate your two garters as soon as possible, and clean out the mouth (and any residue) with 3% hydrogen peroxide. Then let let us know about follow-up treatment. If the gums are swollen, wash your hands well with antibiotic soap after you're done so you don't infect yourself, and be sure not to rub your mucous membranes.

If the gums look fine, I'd provide Vitamin B (thiamin) supplement. Vitamin B1 deficiency leads to lack of energy and neurological problems, including poor coordination. Just scrape a bit of Vitamin B powder from any commercial Vitamin B pill onto (or into the mouth of) a dead guppy. Then get an assistant to open the garter's mouth (with a paperclip or similar) while you insert the guppy into the garter's mouth. If the gums are swollen, you might need to use tweezers to get the guppy started down its throat. Let us know if you have problems with this technique. There are other methods.

At best, your baby just hasn't figured things out yet and needs a little help getting used to swallowing food. Sometimes they're kinda dense, like that. If this is the case, I'd just get them started, and they'll catch on eventually. Lack of eating is particularly serious with babies, so I hope others will offer their viewpoints and other/better techniques. Best,
Rick

[GarterGuy]

Well the smaller of the two is still only taking VERY tiny guppies. I think it's as Rick (Cazador) stated....it's just not used to things yet. The other one finally shed and I tried a guppy out on it and it kind of took it. So I watched it for a while and tried another....BAM!..took it right out of the forceps and was looking for more! After the fourth guppy figured that was enough....even though it was looking for more. So, so far one of them is going very well. It was really "seeing" the forceps as something that "gives food", so next time I'll try scented pinky parts with the guppies and see how it goes. As for the other......it's got a hell of an appetite, just eats VERY small meals. So anyways....keep you fingers crossed that they continue this way.

[Cazador]

Congratulations. What a relief that they're finally eating and it seems that there weren't larger problems! Send in a feeding picture when you get a chance, okay? Best regards,
Rick

[KITKAT]

One method to get very small guppies is to deliberately purchase gravid female guppies. Keep em in a guppy trap at about 78 degrees and they will drop their load in no time.

Other than that, you can "slice em and dice em" if they are too big.

[GarterGuy]

Well now the smaller of the two garters is taking regular sized guppies. It ate four of them today...which I'm VERY glad for, 'cause it was starting to look a little thin. I'm still not totally happy with how it looks and don't think we're totally out of the woods yet. The other one that shed made another milestone today, it took two scented pinky drumsticks today along with a guppy. I want to get them off of fish ASAP, so the fact that one is already on the way makes me VERY happy! I'll post some pics soon, after they've both been eating for a while and are doing well. Don't want to disturb them with the flash, now that they're just starting to do well.

[ClosedCasket88]

hey garter guy , what would a pinkie drumstick be?

i still cant get my garters to eat pinkies .yesterday i tried again ( i doe vry week ) one just eats worms and an occasional salamder , the other eats worms and an occasional fish .

i tried scenting the pinkie with fish and worms and they still dont take it , should i try giving them 2 weeks n get them a little hungry ?

[GarterGuy]

hey garter guy , what would a pinkie drumstick be?

i still cant get my garters to eat pinkies .yesterday i tried again ( i doe vry week ) one just eats worms and an occasional salamder , the other eats worms and an occasional fish .

i tried scenting the pinkie with fish and worms and they still dont take it , should i try giving them 2 weeks n get them a little hungry ?

A pinkie "drumstick" is just my name for a pinky leg. I have frozen ones for my other snakes and for very small snakes, I cut the legs off and offer them to the garters. As far as getting yours to take them. First what I'd do is get them to take the worms and such from a pair of forceps. They'll start to relate the forceps with food. Give them maybe half a worm or so, from the forceps and then give them a scented piece of pinkie that's about worm size (make sure to use frozen/thawed pinkie and wash it well in water and dry it before scenting it with the worm or fish)....garter's usually have such a good feeding reaction, especially after they've started eating, that if it see's something on the forceps that smells and kind of looks like worm they'll take it. Eventually just reduce the amount of worm "smell" on the pinky until they take it unscented. This will take a while depending on the snake. My female T.s.concinnus went over to pinks in only about a week, but my big kingsnake took over a month to switch from lizards to pinks. I think the big thing is to make sure you use frozen/thawed pinks and wash them off before scenting...mice have a very strong oder to them, so you've got to get rid of that before scenting. Something I also do is I keep a piece of frozen tuna in the bag with my mice. This gives them a bit of a fish order right off the bat. Hope this helps.
---Roy